Thursday, December 4, 2008

Time for TTC to use the honour system

It's time
for the TTC to deploy the honour system ("proof of payment" or POP) across the board.

This
involves several components:

1. Vehicle
drivers should no longer double as fare collectors. They've enough on their
plate just operating the vehicles safely, negotiating traffic, etc.

2. Provide
fare vending machines at each major intersection bus stop (if not every
stop). This would eliminate the use of cash and the opportunity for someone to
use small change to short change the fare, or the incidents of a driver
contending that full fare was not paid and a passenger becoming irate and
potentially violent towards the operator or other passengers.

1. Better
security for operators. Disputing fares can lead to distractions, and
violence against operators. Flustered operators are less able to focus on
negotiating traffic and operating the vehicle safely. Or, they become nearly
catatonic and are unable to provide service and open communication with other
customers. Remove the need for operators to interact with passengers, except to
inquire about routes, short turns, etc.

2. Better
security for passengers. A system that frequently and randomly will have
fare checkers with security garb reduces the willingness for the criminal
element to engage in bad behaviour.

3. Faster
loading and unloading of passengers. Rather than have passengers enter a
vehicle through the front door in single file and have to show their proof of
payment, they can enter at any door without having to show proof at the time of
entry.

4. Better
schedule management. The accumulated effect of operators having to deal
with fare collection/checking makes it more difficult to stick to a schedule.

Having
spent a fair amount of time travelling on systems in and around the GTA that
deploy this approach (GO Transit trains, VIVA buses), the contrast in the rider
experience with TTC is stark. Travel on VIVA Blue and GO is much more
"civilized", to say the least, and having a vehicle arrive on
schedule is actually expected and delivered with a high degree of frequency.

To recap:
safer for drivers, safer for passengers, faster, more on time. It's hard
to argue against the continuing pursuit of these objectives.

Note
especially that other transit systems have found a way to do this - TTC should
not feel burdened with having to reinvent the wheel, including how to make it
cost-effective.

I understand
that implementing a swipe card system on vehicles is in the works. I appreciate
this is a forward step, but it's not a good enough step; it still would likely
require that passengers should enter from the front in view of the operator who
is still going to be required to double as a collector.

Take a
ride on Viva Transit and experience what is possible for the TTC.